Bring on the Rain
by Lula Ripley
Summary: After his meeting with Barrnett, Vaughn decides he needs to make some tough decision about his working relationship with Sydney.


E-mail: writerlms@msn.com  
  
Website: www.isnt-it-romantic.net/home  
  
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Disclaimer: Alias, Sydney Bristow, Michael Vaughn and all related components are owned by ABC and Touchstone, and were created by JJ Abrams and Bad Robot Productions. Please accept this as high praise and do not sue me. ;)  
  
Summary: Follow-up to Vaughn's conversation with Barrnett. Now that the agency's suspicious of his attachment to Sydney, he takes steps to change their working relationship.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Classification: Romance, Drama, Action/Adventure  
  
  
  
Bring on the Rain  
  
Chapter One  
  
**Another day has almost come and gone  
  
Can't imagine what else could wrong  
  
Sometimes I'd like to hide away somewhere and lock the door  
  
A single battle lost but not the war **  
  
Vaughn sat in the empty warehouse waiting for his agent to arrive. Had it only been two days since the bombshell broke about her mother? Since that amazing moment in which he let down his defenses and held her? Since SD-6 was infiltrated?  
  
Though it was moderately condescending, he couldn't help but be proud of her. A building full of SD-6 agents and she brought the entire takeover down on her own. A petite, co-ed with a dazzling smile, who could kick your ass from here to the Atlantic.  
  
He knew someone's ass she could kick. And if she knew that prick was the reason he had to do the unthinkable today, she probably would.  
  
How do you tell someone who needs you so badly that you can't be needed any more? How do you walk away from the one thing that's felt "right" in your life in twenty years? Yet maybe Barrnett had been right. He's emotional attachment to Sydney could end up getting her killed, yet he couldn't leave her to the designs of some cold CIA handler like Hilson. The only option was to steel himself to her.  
  
"Vaughn," she said, breathlessly as she hurried toward him, smiling.  
  
"Agent Bristow," he said shortly.  
  
Her brow furrowed. He saw her confusion instantly. "What's with the formality?"  
  
"I took this meeting, because you called and asked for it. But from here on in we don't meet, unless I've got a counter mission for you or unless you have vital information to pass along." He couldn't even look her in the face. He knew she would see through his deception instantly. She was well trained.  
  
"Vaughn…what's this about?"  
  
"It's about doing our jobs, Agent Bristow." He snapped his eyes up to her, knowing only harsh words would break through. "Not hockey games, not heart- to-heart talks, not keeping up with your friend's social lives. It's about bringing down SD-6."  
  
"I see," she said. Her face reddening. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time today, Agent Vaughn." She started to walk away. Was that a tear on her cheek?  
  
Before she made it half way across the room she spun on her heel to face him. "I came here today to tell you that I'd changed my mind. That if you were in this with me, I'd keep up the charade for another year, see if we couldn't gain some ground with SD-6. I made the mistake of thinking that I could count on you to make this life bearable."  
  
"You can't quit," he said quietly, pleading with his eyes for her to understand.  
  
"No, you're right. My father made me see how dangerous that could be for the people I love…the few there are left in my life to love." She brushed her cheek harshly with her hand. "Every day there seems to be less to fight for… so who knows maybe I'll run out of people to care about before long and I can quit with a clear conscience."  
  
She spun again and strode from room with a vengeful force. Her head held high. His on the other hand and sunk to the floor. Had he made a mistake?  
  
"Sydney…" he breathed, though he knew she'd never hear him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hey," Weiss knocked on the doorframe of Vaughn's office. "I heard psych gave you a clean bill."  
  
Vaughn flung the gold coin across the room and it dropped to the floor. "Yeah, I told them what they wanted to hear."  
  
Weiss looked at him skeptically and entered the room, turning to shut the door quietly. He approached Vaughn's desk and took a seat. "You talk to Bristow?"  
  
Vaughn nodded.  
  
"Let me just throw something out there…who knows maybe you've thought through all this already and I'm just pointing out the obvious, but… Did you ever think that the reason Bristow has been so successful is because you give her something to get up for in the morning?"  
  
Vaughn didn't respond, but gave Weiss a look that said, continue.  
  
"Barrnett…Devlin… Hilson…hell, even me… we can all look at this thing between you and Sydney and think it doesn't sit right. It's not textbook. But maybe that's the reason it works."  
  
"Sydney will continue to be Sydney without my sympathetic ear," Vaughn said.  
  
"Maybe." Weiss sat back in his chair, confidently. "But maybe you took a girl with nothing to live for and gave her hope. What's more dangerous? Being emotionally attached to this woman or taking away her last shred of emotion? Who's she got left Vaughn? Who can she talk to? Her dad? You and I both know they won't be making it to the Father/Daughter dance anytime soon."  
  
"I'm a risk to her," Vaughn said matter-of-factly.  
  
"That's bullshit. Those are Barrnett's words, not yours."  
  
"Who am I?" Vaughn asked, his eyes pleading for an answer. "She's the expert. I've got to believe Sydney's better off this way. I can't take the chance that I could be wrong."  
  
"You can't not take it."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
**It's almost like the hard times circle 'round  
  
A couple drops and they all start coming down  
  
Yeah, I might feel defeated,  
  
I might hang my head  
  
I might be barely breathing - but I'm not dead**  
  
  
  
Sydney stood at her kitchen sink, her hands immersed in the soapy water, a menial task that today seemed greater than her most dangerous operation.  
  
Why had he done it? Oh, hell, she knew why. Who could blame him? Her mother had murdered his father in cold blood. As valiant an effort as it had been for him to pretend it didn't mean anything, obviously working with her had become a vivid reminder of his loss. She likened it to how she felt working with Sloane, day in and day out, the man who killed her fiancée. She hated him. He made her skin crawl. It made her physically ill to think Vaughn could feel that way about her, but it made perfect sense.  
  
Through tear-filled eyes she dried the last of the dinner dishes, but her instability and emotional upset made it easy for the pate to slip through her fingers. It fell to the floor, smashing into infinitesimal fragments. Her mother's dishes.  
  
Hysterical laughter bubbled up from deep within her chest. The stupid china she held so sacred. It was nothing but broken bits of glass. Bitterly, she picked up another plate and hurled it to the floor. "This is for Vaughn," she cried. "She picked up a saucer and threw it down as well. "And this is for his mother." Another plate quickly followed. "And my dad," she cried. Falling to the floor herself, her tears streaming down her face. Her hands grasping at the shattered pieces in anger. It didn't seem to matter that the tiny shards cut into her fingers.  
  
She was lost in her reverie and didn't hear the door open. Francie hurried to her side on the floor of the kitchen. "Syd?" she asked. What happened?"  
  
"What?" Sydney looked up, dazed. "Francie."  
  
"Oh, Syd," Francie grabbed her gently by the forearms. "Your mother's dishes. How did this happen?"  
  
Sydney sobered. "Just clumsy…I was trying to put a pile of them away and they fell."  
  
"Oh my god, look at your hands," Francie cried. "Do you need stitches?"  
  
Sydney stared down at her hands, covered in blood. "I'll be fine. It's just a few small cuts. Looks worse than it is."  
  
"Oh but your mom's dishes, Syd. I'm so sorry."  
  
"So am I," Sydney whispered.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sydney stood at the hot dog stand and ordered one with everything. Vaughn came up behind her and stood in line, trying to look as though he didn't know her.  
  
"You're headed for China?" It was more of a statement than a question.  
  
"Tonight," she said.  
  
"Sloane's making diplomatic relations over there a nightmare. We've got enough problems with the Chinese without him trying to further his efforts. The file your dropping must never get into the hands of the dissidents. I've got a phony disk for you to switch, but you'll bring us back the original. The names on that file will go a long way to bridging the broken gap."  
  
"Understood," she said, still looking forward.  
  
She accepted her hot dog and turned the corner of the stand to look busy at the condiment station. He placed his own order and risked a glance over at her.  
  
"What happened to your hands?" he asked, more concern in his voice than he cared to acknowledge.  
  
"Household accident," she said flatly. "Nothing to concern yourself with Agent Vaughn. It won't deter me from doing my job."  
  
"Sydney…" He caught himself. "You're walking into a dangerous situation in China. Sun-Ling is the architect of the only remaining concubine ring in Asia. Women have been known to disappear within his walls."  
  
He turned the corner and stood next to her at the counter, placing mustard on his hot dog and sliding a small envelope under a stack of napkins. "There's a transmitter there too. I want you in constant contact."  
  
"I can take care of myself, Agent Vaughn." She picked up the napkins and her hot dog and walked away.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
**Tomorrow's another day  
  
And I'm thirsty anyway  
  
So bring on the rain**  
  
--Bring on the Rain performed by JoDee Messina 


End file.
